Thursday, October 05, 2006

 

New Records/Tapes/CDs


New Records/Tapes/CDs
Originally uploaded by Lacey_and_Cielle.
One great thing about a music collection is that it can be passed down, given away, lent or otherwise shared with other people. I suppose this is just as much a quality of physical "things" in general, but a signifignat collection has another precious aspect to it, the aspect of time. Seen here, the 70's , 80's and 90's have been represented not only in a musical chronology, but also through three seperate decades where three seperate media formats ruled. (painting with broad storkes here)

Over time, a collection of music matures, and depending on the care of the collector, the final accumulation can represent years or decades of effort on the part of the archivist. Varied musical trends and styles are often represented indicating both cultural and personal growth. In this case the collection also includes several different media formats.

Thinking how digital format music moves from one person to another is a different story. The entire physical aspect of time is lost, leaving the bare content itself, the music, to stand on its own, with its meager and most likely inconsistant metadata to back it up and provide some measure of date. There will be no worn edges, no scratches no muffled sounds or cracked cases in the digital world, and thats a good thing, the thing we all like.

Still, there is something nice in picking up an old album or tape and 'feeling' the age inherent through the physicality of the object. Whats that all about anyway?

Comments:
So true! Actually, it breaks my heart that there's no corporeal "thing" to pass down with MP3s. I guess I could just hand someone my ipod, but that seems odd. No cover? No liner notes? No lyrics booklet? And I don't care what anyone says: old albums smell cool.

I'm still anxiously lusting after my Mother's record collection that spans the 60's, 70's and 80's. It'll be awhile, though, because she won't part with them!
 
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